1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knitting machine capable of changing a pile length, which is arranged to form a pile knitted fabric having a plurality of sinker loop lengths by moving a sinker into and out of an area between reciprocating knitting needles. The present invention also relates to a manufacturing method of a knitted fabric having different pile lengths.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventionally-known technique for forming a pile stitch and a plain stitch by a hosiery circular knitting machine, when the pile stitch is formed, a sinker having a pile nib is moved into and out of between knitting needles. By changing the moving distance of the sinker, whether or not a pile yarn is placed on the pile nib is switched.
Another conventional technique is described in JP 4502606 (B2). In that technique, a knitting structure in which a sinker loop length of a pile yarn is longer than that of a ground yarn (hereinafter, referred to as a “low-pile stitch”), a knitting structure in which the sinker loop length of the pile yarn (hereinafter, referred to as a “pile length”) is even longer than in the low-pile stitch (hereinafter, also referred to as a “high-pile stitch”), and a knitting structure in which the sinker loop length of the ground yarn and that of the pile yarn are the same (hereinafter, referred to as a “plain stitch”) are formed in the same knitted fabric by using two sinkers. In accordance with that technique, those three different knitting structures, i.e., the plain stitch, the low-pile stitch and the high-pile stitch can be distributed in a desired pattern in the same knitted fabric. Also, the high-pile stitch can be arranged among the low-pile stitches or the low-pile or high-pile stitch can be arranged among the plain stitches. Moreover, other knitting structures, e.g., a float stitch, a tuck stitch, and a cut-boss stitch as a varied stitch, can be arranged in place of the plain stitch in that technique.
In accordance with the technique described in JP 4502606 (B2), the three different knitting structures, i.e., the plain stitch, the low-pile stitch, and the high-pile stitch can be arranged in a desired pattern in the same knitted fabric. The thus formed knitted fabric can be used for a product which pursues fashionability and functionality. However, for making a product more fashionable and functional, those three knitting structures are often required to be arranged on a stitch-by-stitch basis in a knitted fabric. Because only one of a pair of sinkers is driven by an actuator in the technique described in JP 4502606 (B2), it is difficult to drive the other sinker to provide an action on a stitch-by-stitch basis precisely.